Internal expanding reel



Nov. 20, 1962 J. BERKELEY 3,064,921;

INTERNAL EXPANDING REEL Filed March 15, 1961 INVENTOR.

ATTORN United States Patent Ofiice 3,%4,92i Patented Nov. 20, 1962 3,064,921 INTERNAL EXPANDING REEL Laurence J. Berkeley, La Jolla, Calif., assignor to The Berkeley Company, Danville, 11]., a corporation of liilinois Filed Mar. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 95,873 1 Claim. (Cl. 242-110.1)

This invention relates to a reel for supporting a flexible Wire or rod from which the supported material is to be fed progressively to a point of use. It is particularly applicable to the support of a flexible welding rod to be fed to a welding machine although not limited to this particular use.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide a reel of this type having supporting arms on which the coil of rod can be placed and the supporting arms extended, by rotation of the reel so that they will engage the interior of the supported coil.

It is a further object to provide means for locking the supporting arms of the reel in their extended holding positions when the proper position of the supporting arms has been reached and to secure the arms in this position during the operation of the reel, as the rod is unwound from the reel.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a controlled resistance to rotation of the reel, both as it is expanded to engage the coil and as the material is thereafter fed from the reel.

The above and other objects of the invention will be clear from the following description when considered in connection with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the reel and its support.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view through the axis of the reel, taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4, and 6 are transverse sectional views taken on the lines 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6, respectively, of FIG. 3.

The reel may be mounted on a suitable support, shown as a pipe 10, formed with dual plates 12 to which two opposed attachment bases 14 are secured as by bolts 13. Supports for two reels are provided so that a second reel will always be ready for use when one reel is fed out.

The reel mounting devices include a main support shaft 16, provided with a central cylindrical bearing portion 18, and inner projecting end 19, provided with an exterior out-of-round surface shown as a hexagonal surface (see FIG. 4) and interiorly tapped to receive and be secured in place by an attachment bolt 22. There is preferably provided an insulating bushing 24, press fitted into the axial opening in the attachment base 14, and keyed thereto if desired. The bushing has an end collar or projection 25, against which a washer 26 engages, held in place by bolt 22.

There is provided and exteriorly toothed pinion 27, snugly fitted over the central cylindrical portion of shaft 16 for a purpose described below. The shaft 16 is provided with an outer extension 28, of out-of-round configuration, preferably hexagonal in form, as shown, for a purpose to be described. The outer end of the shaft 16 is tapped to receive a threaded securing bolt 29, provided with a washer bearing against a compression spring 30, for maintaining the reel assembled and under the desired tension.

The reel, indicated generally at 31, is formed of two complementary hub sections 32 and 33, formed with axial openings for loosely receiving the pinion 27 on shaft 16, and secured together by bolts 34. The hub section 32 is provided with two transverse parallel alined openings 35, extending generally radially through the hub but spaced apart equally from the axis of the reel a distance corresponding to the space between the bases of the teeth on pinion 27. The other hub section 33 has a similar pair of parallel generally radial openings 36 extending at right angles to the openings 35. Racks 38, 39, 40 and 41 are mounted for sliding movement in the openings 35 and 36 and constitute two pairs of slide bars for supporting the reel of welding rod or the like. Each of the racks is formed with an inwardly directed row of teeth, meshing with the teeth on pinion 27, so that on relative rotation of the hub of the reel with respect to the pinion the slide bars are all moved simultaneously inwardly or outwardly from the axis of the hub.

The outer ends of the slide bars are each provided with suitable rod supporting heads 42, of any desired form having the requisite shape and strength. As shown, each includes a preformed casting 44, formed with a socket at its base for receiving the outer ends of the slide bars, and rigidly secured thereto as by welding, and with an outwardly projecting arm 46 adjacent the inner face of the reel. The outer ends of the heads 42 are each provided with an adjustable arm 48 mounted on a rectangular block 49 received within an opening of a corresponding shape in the casting 44. Each set of blocks 4? and arms 48 are secured firmly to the castings by bolts 50 threaded into the interior of casting 44 and locked in position by lock lever 52 threaded on bolt 50. In normal operating position the arms 48 extend outwardly in position corresponding to and opposite fixed arms 46, as shown for the lower head in FIG. 2. By loosening the lock lever the outer arms may be turnedinwardly to facilitate the mounting of the coil on the reel.

To control the movements of the racks there is provided a pawl support shown as a disk 54, having interior teeth corresponding to and enmeshed with the exterior teeth of pinion 27. The disk 54 carries a pivoted locking pawl 56 having a projecting operating arm 57 and two spaced locking teeth 58 and 59 engag'eable selectively with the toothed exterior of a notched disk 60 rigidly attached to the hub member 33 or with the exterior teeth of notched disk 62 mounted on extension 28 of shaft 16. The radially inner supporting surface of disk 62 is hexagonal in correspondence with the exterior surface of the shaft extension 28 on which it is mounted. The pawl may be retained in either adjusted position by any suitable latch or by the biasing spring, not shown.

In order to prevent free rotation of the reel, and to provide appropriate resistance to unwinding of the coil from the reel, there are provided a series of friction disks surrounding the shaft 16. The main friction disk 66 is positioned between the attachment base 14 and hub member 32. This friction member limits rotation of the reel in either direction at all times. There are preferably provided friction disks 67 and 68 on each side of the pawl support 54 and between that member and the toothed disks 60 and 62 respectively to restrict free rotation of these members.

The operation of the reel will be clear from the above description. When a coil of rod or wire is to be mounted on the reel, one or more of the outer arms of the heads may be adjusted to the position shown for the upper arms 48 in FIG. 1 and 2, to permit the coil to be slipped loosely onto the reel. The outer adjustable arms are then moved to and secured in outwardly projecting holding position, as shown for the lower arms 48 in FIGS. 1 and 2. The pawl 56 is moved into engagement with the notched disk 62 which is held against rotation by its hexagonal connection to stationary support shaft 16. The pawl supporting disk 54 and the pinion 27 are thus locked against rotation. Rotation of the reel hub to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1, then causes the racks or slide bars 384ll to be moved inwardly. When the heads 42 have become firmly engaged with the interior surface of the coil the pawl 56 is moved to position to be disengaged from disk 62 and to be engaged with the adjacent teeth of the notched disk 69 attached to the hub. The reel may then be rotated, as the rod is fed off, without disturbing the supporting positions of the heads 42.

While the reel is especially designed to hold flexible welding rod material to be fed to a welding machine, it will be understood it is applicable to receiving and holding any flexible material to be withdrawn from the reel by being unwound from the exterior surface thereof.

The specific devices herein disclosed are for the purposes of illustration only and are not intended as limiting the present invention, the scope of which is to be ascertained from the claim appended hereto.

I claim:

A reel for supporting and discharging a flexible rod, comprising: i

(a) an attachment base and a supporting shaft keyed thereto,

(12) a hub mounted on said shaft and formed with a plurality of circumferentially spaced transverse openings adjacent but spaced from the axis of said hub,

(c) a series of toothed racks positioned in said openings and extending inwardly therethrough to points beyond the axis of said hub,

(d) rod-supporting heads on the outer ends of said racks,

(e) a pinion mounted on said shaft, formed with gear teeth enmeshed with the teeth of said racks to move said racks and heads radially inwardly and outwardly on relative rotation of said pinion and hub, and

( means for selectively causing said pinion to rotate with said hub or to be held stationary as said hub is rotated, to cause said racks to remain in fixed position with respect to said hub or to move radially with respect thereto, respectively,

(g) said last named means including a pawl support keyed for rotation with said pinion,

(h) a toothed gear secured for rotation with said hub and a second toothed gear keyed to said shaft,

(i) means for locking said pawl support to either of said toothed gears selectively, and

(j) a series of friction disks surrounding said shaft and positioned between said attachment base and hub, between said pawl support and said first toothed gear and between said pawl support and said second toothed gear and spring-pressed means for applying axial pressure against said disk to prevent free rotation of said hub with respect to said attachment base and of said pawl support with respect to said first and second toothed gears.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 583,206 Atwood May 25, 1897 1,088,282 Hudson Feb. 24, 1914 1,881,305 Williams Oct. 4, 1932 2,326,092 Borton Aug. 3, 1943 it an 

